After heated exchange at Pocono, the pair look ahead to Michigan
BROOKLYN, Mich. — The much ballyhooed “heated” radio conversation between four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson has been put to rest.
“If anything,“ Gordon said Friday at Michigan International Speedway, “I think it’s been more positive that we kind of got that out there and had this heated moment and said some things and got them off our chest. I think it’s actually helped us coming into this weekend really focused and excited about it.”
During the eighth and final caution of Sunday’s Axalta 400 at Pocono Raceway, and with Gordon running 21st, Gustafson called his driver in for four tires.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver questioned the decision, and the radio conversation quickly became heated before spotter Eddit D’Hondt stepped in to try and settle the pair down.
“It’s intense out there,” Gordon said Friday. “We had a car far better than what we finished (14th). I would say (it was) a little bit of a build-up with the type of season we’ve had so far.
“It seems like every time we have a car that’s capable of either winning or running in the top five some circumstances come about that take us kind of out of that. That’s frustrating. When you’re in the closing laps of a race, coming down to kind of the final pit stops and you’re making choices and decisions you’re not always going to like those decisions. You have to play a role in it. At that point, I think both Alan was frustrated and I was frustrated. The restarts weren’t going great; we took a risk on the pit strategy (earlier), the caution came out that blew that strategy and that put us back. We saw how hard it was to pass, track position being really, really important especially in that final run.”
The winningest active driver competing in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series today with 92 career victories, Gordon, 43, is stepping out of the car following the 2015 season. While he is 10th in points heading into Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 (1 p.m. FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR), he’s yet to win a race this season. To qualify for this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, a driver must be in the top 16 in points or have at least one win after the 26th race of the year.
Gordon said he felt his car was good enough to stay out and maintain its track position at that point in the Pocono race.
“I rarely ever question those calls — he’s the crew chief and he makes great calls,” Gordon said. “But at that point I felt like I needed to stay out. It got a little heated.
“But it’s all good. We’re big boys; we respect the heck out of one other. We’ve had great conversations this week.”